


Teething

by cantabrasil03



Category: Free!
Genre: F/M, Future Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-25
Updated: 2014-12-25
Packaged: 2018-03-03 10:12:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2847305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cantabrasil03/pseuds/cantabrasil03
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nothing could have prepared them for the reality of having a newborn at home. Written for the MakoGou christmas exchange on Tumblr, for kaneladit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Teething

**Author's Note:**

> Minoru starts out as a newborn here. He cut his first tooth at around six months.

“Makoto.”

There was a grunt from the lump at her side. Gou kicked again. “Makoto. It’s your turn.”

The lump moved, and Makoto slowly sat up, his hair sticking up in all directions. He grunted again and got up, shuffling towards the closet.

“Minoru’s room is the other way.”

Makoto turned accordingly, and before long he was back with a squirming, squalling bundle. Gou fought to stay awake as she nursed Minoru, but by the time Makoto took the baby to be burped and changed, she was already back asleep.

Nothing could have prepared the young parents for the reality of a newborn at home. Minoru was a ravenous eater, always ready to nurse. From the day they brought him home he was on a firm schedule- eat, burp, pee, sleep, repeat. Makoto and Gou could soon count down his cycle to the minute- two hours and thirty minutes to be exact. It made for difficult nights and exhausting days.

He would begin the same way each time. An ill-humored sigh, then a plaintive cry that turned into an affronted weep if he was not attended. And no matter how many times he had eaten that day, he would always be starving. Gou worried that she would run out of milk, but her body understood her son well. For every hungry cry her breasts responded with a dull, full ache.

At times it felt like they were doomed to be in this state forever, with a good-natured cherub who grew disgruntled as soon as the sun went down. But somehow, one night, Makoto put Minoru in his crib- and didn’t pick him up until the following morning. That night turned into another, and another, and before they knew it a week had passed, and then a month.

It was their new normal. Minoru sleeping through the night meant early mornings of a hungry, wet baby, but his parents were much happier and well rested. It was a fair trade, and they quickly settled into their new routine.

The family’s peace was shattered the morning Gou felt a sharp stab while she nursed. Her pained yelp startled a sleepy Minoru, who protested his mother’s racket with a wail of his own. His little jaw dropped, giving Gou a perfect view of swollen gums and a white, translucent sliver peeking out.

Minoru was getting his first tooth.

~

It was incredible how much damage a tooth could do. Suddenly, Makoto and Gou’s jovial, happy baby was transformed into a bundle of tears and suffering. The crying would start in the late afternoon, and he wouldn’t stop until the wee hours. They tried everything- numbing cream, frozen gel toys, gum massage- but nothing helped. Every night they endured hours of Minoru’s persistent, offended fussing, like an old man unhappy with his dinner, before he would think of sleeping.

Makoto and Gou were at a loss of what to do. The longer the situation dragged on, the thinner their nerves became. It was a struggle to get out of bed in the morning- breakfast began to be a burned mess because Gou wasn’t functioning well without sleep. Makoto fared little better. Already not a morning person, his students caught him more than once dozing off during an exam, or corrected him on an incorrect fact in his lectures.

“Gou,” he called to his drained wife one morning. “Gou, I can’t figure out this paragraph. I don’t know if I’m tired, or if this student just didn’t know what they were writing.”

“Read it to me,” she called listlessly from the kitchen. Minoru, buckled in his high chair and cranky, grunted at his father for his breakfast. Makoto absently handed him his bowl of mushed bananas as he began to read.

“ _The poem discusses the importance of family in the context of….”_

He was halfway through the paper when he heard a soft thud. Makoto looked up- he expected Minoru was done with his breakfast and had tossed his plate on the floor. What he saw was even better. The baby had laid his head down on his tray, his green eyes closed, cheek squished by the table. He was fast asleep.

Gou came from the kitchen, expecting to clean up the uncharacteristic mess her son made. She paused at the doorway. “No way…”

“I can’t believe it,” Makoto sighed in relief. “He’s asleep.”

“I would be too, if I was up all night,” Gou scrunched her nose.

“You _were_ up all night,” Makoto moved to unbuckle the sleeping baby. As soon as he lifted Minoru out of the chair, though, he began to grouse. “Now, now, you’re alright.” Minoru flopped his head against his father’s shoulder. “I wonder what put him out so quickly.”

“Probably that boring essay,” Gou brushed a wisp of hair away from Minoru’s forehead. “It almost put _me_ to sleep.”

~

Gou had meant it as a joke, but it wasn’t long before they started to wonder if she was _right_. It didn’t happen often, but if Makoto began to read out loud, Minoru wanted to snuggle up and listen. Normal conversation didn’t faze him, but something about Makoto’s steady voice reading aloud seemed to calm him.

At this point they were willing to try anything. A few sleepless nights later, when Minoru was protesting his mother’s hold and complaining about his tooth, Gou turned to her husband.

“Read to him, Makoto.”

He looked skeptical, but got out of bed to fetch a chewed up picture book. Minoru fussed and protested, not agreeing to be held in his mother’s slim arms. Gou held fast as Makoto came back to bed, book and glasses in hand. They settled in together, and Makoto began to read. As the pages turned, Minoru quieted. By the time Makoto finished the book, Minoru had clambered into his arms, his heavy little body snuggled under his father’s chin.

“Is he asleep?” He mouthed to Gou. She peeked around but was met with expectant green eyes. She looked up at her husband and shook her head no. Makoto sighed, and gestured for more books.

Minoru stayed quiet as Gou brought back more reading material. He only adjusted his position once as Makoto read on, turning his head and curling his fat fingers around his pacifier. When the fourth book was finished, both parents let out a breath of relief.

He was fast asleep.

~

“I don’t understand why he won’t sleep,” Minoru complained to his mother over the phone. The baby in his arms fussed and grumbled, chewing on his pacifier. “I didn’t think a tooth would bother him this much. We’ve tried everything. Poor Fuyumi thinks it’s her fault, because she can’t nurse him anymore.”

“I had to stop when you started teething too,” Gou reassured him. “It’s perfectly normal. You were a biter. Have you tried reading to him?”

“Why would I try that?” Minoru hadn’t noticed his son had stopped squirming and had laid his head on his father’s shoulder. “He won’t sit still long enough to listen.”

“Hmm,” Gou sighed knowingly. “Why don’t you tell me about your day at the lab?”

“The lab? It was fine. I have some new students that are working over the summer. The university wants to move up my presentation, but I’m hoping that I can convince them I can’t change the timeline. Every week is so precious, Mom. I can’t rush anything- it’s too easy to make mistakes that way. But if we can get through this summer and produce some results I think I can get another grant that will let me take on more students-“

“Minoru,” his mother’s soft voice made Minoru pause.

“Yes?”

“Is the baby asleep?”

Minoru paused and craned his neck to look at the little face nestled against his shoulder. The baby breathed steadily, his pacifier hanging out of his mouth, caught on his new tooth.

“I can’t believe it, Mom,” Minoru whispered to his mother. “He’s out like a light!”

Gou laughed quietly. “Like father, like son.”


End file.
